How quickly do bacteria starve?

[livinlifeinBKK]

Saw another related post on here and it got me thinking about how quickly nitrifying bacteria as well as the probiotic bacteria we have in our tanks can actually starve if they don't have a food source. I know it takes very little to feed most bacteria but does anyone have any idea how quickly the population actually declines? Since it's highly species specific if you could mention what type of bacteria (or however you want to describe them) you are referring to it would be a helpful idea. (You definitely don't need to identify by species unless you just happen to have that knowledge on you.)

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Saw another related post on here and it got me thinking about how quickly nitrifying bacteria as well as the probiotic bacteria we have in our tanks can actually starve if they don't have a food source. I know it takes very little to feed most bacteria but does anyone have any idea how quickly the population actually declines? Since it's highly species specific if you could mention what type of bacteria (or however you want to describe them) you are referring to it would be a helpful idea. (You definitely don't need to identify by species unless you just happen to have that knowledge on you.)

Since most of the bottled bacteria has a shelf life of a year or more, I'd say nitrifying bacteria can go quite a while without any added food.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Since most of the bottled bacteria has a shelf life of a year or more, I'd say nitrifying bacteria can go quite a while without any added food.

I thought they were made to be dormant somehow though

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I thought they were made to be dormant somehow though

I'm not sure how...

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I'm not sure how...

That's true though...the bottled bacteria do have a long shelf life if they're not dormant (again, idk the science of it)...from what I've heard a lot of bottled bacteria probably are dead in there but that's just anecdotal

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I did a quick Google search and found this... There are links to some articles that might help answer your question. There were a lot of other search results too, if you're inclined to look

how long will bacteria live without ammonia source?

Hey all, I'm trying to keep my tank cycled until I'm getting fish, so i'm adding about 4ppm of ammonia a day (all getting converted)...problem is, tonight I ran out...I can't get more till 3-4 tommorow (about 16 hours from now)...I had enough for about 1-2ppm of ammonia, so the supply should run...

www.aquariumadvice.com

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I did a quick Google search and found this... There are links to some articles that might help answer your question. There were a lot of other search results too, if you're inclined to look

how long will bacteria live without ammonia source?

Hey all, I'm trying to keep my tank cycled until I'm getting fish, so i'm adding about 4ppm of ammonia a day (all getting converted)...problem is, tonight I ran out...I can't get more till 3-4 tommorow (about 16 hours from now)...I had enough for about 1-2ppm of ammonia, so the supply should run...

www.aquariumadvice.com

Oh cool, I appreciate it!